New Europe + Religion | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/series/new-europe+religion
model.DotcomContentType$TagIndex$@47c1f07en-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2018Tue, 20 Mar 2018 03:08:50 GMT2018-03-20T03:08:50Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2018The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
Excitement grows as Vatican prepares to honour Poland's favourite sonhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/05/poland-beatification-pope-john-paul-ii
Polish Catholics get ready for next month's beatification of their homegrown pontiff, John Paul II<p>Karol Wojtyla is back. The image of the Krakow seminary boy and amateur goalkeeper who went on to become Pope John Paul II is reappearing across Poland six years after his death.</p><p>As he approaches beatification on 1 May, the penultimate step on the road to sainthood, the country is taking the opportunity to bask in nostalgia for its favourite son and for a less complicated time when church and nation stood together in the face of adversity.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/05/poland-beatification-pope-john-paul-ii">Continue reading...</a>Pope John Paul IIPolandEuropeWorld newsReligionCatholicismChristianityThe papacyTue, 05 Apr 2011 07:00:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/05/poland-beatification-pope-john-paul-iiPhotograph: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty ImagesPolish sculptor Czeslaw Dzwigaj shapes a statue of John Paul II, 'the greatest Pole in history'. Photograph: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty ImagesPolish sculptor Czeslaw Dzwigaj shapes a statue of John Paul II, 'the greatest Pole in history'. Photograph: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty ImagesJulian Borger in Nowa Sol2011-04-05T07:00:03ZWorld's biggest statue of Christ symbolises church's power in Polandhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/05/catholic-church-power-in-poland
Secularisation seems to be a long way off in a country where 90% claim to be Catholics<p>Anyone wondering whether modern day Poland is still a fervently Catholic country should head to the Tesco in <a href="http://bip.swiebodzin.eu/" title="Swiebodzin">Swiebodzin</a>, near the German border. There, on the rocky hill opposite the supermarket, is the newest, most audacious religious icon in all of Europe, if not the world: a 33-metre high, rather crudely carved statue of Jesus, which volunteers from the town, along with prisoners on day release from the local jail, have been building for the last 10 years.</p><p>On a windy day last week, a crane gently swayed as work continued on the concrete folly, the brainchild of a local priest who claims it is the world's biggest statue of Jesus Christ – bigger even than Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, a sore point with the Brazilians who grumble that the Polish Jesus is cheating by standing on a mound.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/05/catholic-church-power-in-poland">Continue reading...</a>PolandEuropeWorld newsReligionCatholicismChristianityTue, 05 Apr 2011 06:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/05/catholic-church-power-in-polandPhotograph: Lech Muszynski/EPAThe giant statue of a crowned Jesus Christ being erected in Swiebodzin, Poland. Photograph: Lech Muszynski/EPAPhotograph: Lech Muszynski/EPAThe giant statue of a crowned Jesus Christ being erected in Swiebodzin, Poland. Photograph: Lech Muszynski/EPAHelen Pidd in Swiebodzin and Krakow and Julian Borger in Warsaw2011-04-05T06:00:00ZMusical monk creates ship of hope for homeless Polishmenhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/04/musical-monk-ship-homeless-polishmen
Residents take over backyard of St Lazarus shelter to build schooner from ashes of political upheaval for global voyage<p>Where a communist-era tractor factory once stood in south Warsaw, around the back of the St Lazarus homeless shelter, the steel hull of an unlikely vessel is slowly rising from the ground.</p><p>As high as a two-storey house and 17 metres (55ft) long, the boat is incongruous amid the messy detritus of socialism and the half-built capitalism that is gradually taking its place. It looks like an ark built in anticipation of some biblical flood being visited on this unfashionable corner of the Polish capital.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/04/musical-monk-ship-homeless-polishmen">Continue reading...</a>PolandEuropeHomelessnessWorld newsSocietyReligionHousingCommunitiesMon, 04 Apr 2011 18:47:48 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/04/musical-monk-ship-homeless-polishmenPhotograph: Piotr Malecki/Panos Pictures/GuardianThe two-masted ocean-going schooner being built by homeless men at the St Lazarus homeless shelter in Warsaw. Photograph: Piotr Malecki/Panos PicturesPhotograph: Piotr Malecki/Panos Pictures/GuardianThe two-masted ocean-going schooner being built by homeless men at the St Lazarus homeless shelter in Warsaw. Photograph: Piotr Malecki/Panos PicturesJulian Borger in Warsaw2011-04-04T18:47:48ZSpain is still a very Roman Catholic country, but times are changinghttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/31/neweurope-spain-catholics-church-influence
Few Spaniards go to weekly mass, though the church retains a powerful influence<p>It has produced the world-conquering Jesuits, the mysteriously powerful Opus Dei and, of course, the Spanish inquisition. But is Spain a nation of ardent, rosary-clutching Roman Catholics?</p><p>On one level it is. Three-quarters of Spaniards define themselves as Catholics, with only one in 40 who follow some other religion. Movements such as Opus Dei and the <a href="http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=28614" title="">Neocatechumenal Way </a>(whose followers are known in Spain as <em>kikos</em> after founder Kiko Argüello) are popular.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/31/neweurope-spain-catholics-church-influence">Continue reading...</a>World newsSpainReligionCatholicismThu, 31 Mar 2011 07:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/31/neweurope-spain-catholics-church-influencePhotograph: Chris Sattlberger/Getty ImagesThe crowds still turn out in their thousands for the processions during Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Sev ille, Spain. Photograph: Chris Sattlberger/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Chris Sattlberger/Getty ImagesThe crowds still turn out in their thousands for the processions during Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Sev ille, Spain. Photograph: Chris Sattlberger/Getty ImagesGiles Tremlett2011-03-31T07:00:01ZIn search of the spirit of Al-Andalushttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/video/2011/mar/30/marcel-theroux-spain-granada-cordoba
With the Moorish architecture of Granada's Alhambra and Cordoba cathedral as a backdrop, Marcel Theroux meets a group of Spanish Muslims who are drawing on the area's Islamic legacy to a promote a new religious tolerance <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/video/2011/mar/30/marcel-theroux-spain-granada-cordoba">Continue reading...</a>Spain holidaysGranada holidaysTravelCultural tripsReligionIslamWed, 30 Mar 2011 08:56:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/video/2011/mar/30/marcel-theroux-spain-granada-cordobaMarcel Theroux, Shehani Fernando and Alex Healey2011-03-30T08:56:00ZCan Jean-François Copé save France from anti-Muslim extremism?https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/24/jean-francois-cope-tackling-french-extremism
The secretary-general of French president Nicolas Sarkozy's party may have the most difficult job in the country<p>Jean-François Copé leans back and contemplates the Zorro-masked crusader figurine on his desk. "My mother bought it for me when I joined the government," he says. "Because Zorro fights injustice and when he's knocked off his horse, he gets straight back on. And now I've got Napoleon next to him," he adds, rearranging a plastic Bonaparte.</p><p>Copé, dubbed Sarkozilla for his killer political ambition, is the man with the most difficult task in France.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/24/jean-francois-cope-tackling-french-extremism">Continue reading...</a>Nicolas SarkozyIslamReligionThe far rightFranceWorld newsEuropeThu, 24 Mar 2011 15:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/24/jean-francois-cope-tackling-french-extremismPhotograph: Robert FrankenbergJean-Francois Copé, head of the UMP party, at its headquarters in Paris. Photograph: Robert FrankenbergPhotograph: Robert FrankenbergJean-Francois Copé, head of the UMP party, at its headquarters in Paris. Photograph: Robert FrankenbergAngelique Chrisafis in Paris2011-03-24T15:00:00ZGerman finance minister says too many Gastarbeiter were allowed inhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/18/german-finance-minister-guest-workers-row
Wolfgang Schäuble enters multiculturalism row, saying problems of integrating Turkish guest workers have grown with third generation<p>Germany's finance minister has waded into the country's simmering row over multiculturalism, saying it had been a mistake to bring in so many <em>Gastarbeiter</em>, or guest workers, from Turkey during the economic boom years of the 1960s.</p><p>In an interview with the Guardian, Wolfgang Schäuble said Germany had expected its 3.5 million Turkish minority to integrate better in the decades that followed the wave of immigration.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/18/german-finance-minister-guest-workers-row">Continue reading...</a>GermanyTurkeyCommunitiesIslamSocietyReligionEuropeWorld newsFri, 18 Mar 2011 19:24:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/18/german-finance-minister-guest-workers-rowPhotograph: Herbert Knosowski/APTurkish flags on the balconies of migrant families in Berlin on the day of a football international. Photograph: Herbert Knosowski/APPhotograph: Herbert Knosowski/APTurkish flags on the balconies of migrant families in Berlin on the day of a football international. Photograph: Herbert Knosowski/APLarry Elliott and Julia Kollewe in Berlin2011-03-18T19:24:23Z